File this under “opposing views”. Coming out of the Canalys Forum, Mike Norris, the head of Comptuacenter, Europe’s largest reseller called the idea of selling tech based on consumption a “lie” and a “fallacy” created by the marketing machines at some the largest hardware vendors.
Quoting the Register:
“If I was a vendor, I would want a consumption model,” he said. “I see absolute logic in why I would want to sell as-a-service and not sell capital goods.”
“I do think vendors have to be careful because I don’t think customers want to buy that way if they can avoid it,” Norris added.
He said some vendors were “fixated” on consumption models.
I’ve long been a fan of everything as a service, and so I disagree with this blanket statement by Norris. There’s plenty of evidence that selling bundles that include hardware makes sense. That said, he makes two points I want to highlight.
First, vendors do promote what THEY want, and will wrap it in marketing to convince services companies to do it.
Second, the data says that the best performing solution providers have a mix of hardware, software, and services sales, and are not exclusively service based. The mix matters.
No absolutes. Ever. Including that statement.
Source: The Register